All Comments on 'Just Good Friends'

A marriage rolling along the brink for years, almost dropping into the abyss, but wobbling back to safety just before the curtain. A hopeful story. Thanks for posting it.

I thought this was an interesting story and quite believable until the end. However, if his wife was immediately affected by her daughter's reaction in the restaurant after failing to see his viewpoint for the previous few years, then he should clearly have known his thoughts and feelings were of no value to her. His wife was too selfish to for him to risk any more of his time.

I liked it but he should have put his foot down a long time ago. Why would he want to stay with someone who treated him like nothing for so long?

Daughter no longer home there was no reason for him to put up with all her crap. Should have given her an ultimatum years ago.

GREAT STORY!!! 👏👏👏

Im not a neanderthal or anything but if my wife was closer to a longtime friend than me I would have serious words with her "Best" friend. And ask my wife some serious questions about her true feelings for him and me. Yes men can have female friends and vice versa but this "best" friend crossed the line. Well written as always these types of stories gets us readers thinking, I know that's dangerous.

someone got a wake up call

"She still saw Vince on occasion and I was fine with that." Why?

Just divorce the self centered bitch and move on.

Really? Was Vince gay? That's the question not answered! A lot of years putting Vince first even travelling alone with him and he never tried anything? And she never tried also? Really? Too many years of disrespect and disregard for this marriage to survive! The husband was weak and lazy to endure a wife like her for so many years! 2*

Great story. I really didn't know where it was going, you were able to bring it to decent close.

Well done with the different tack on LW stories. Don’t think any man would have gone with reconciliation in such case but it’s fiction!

Well done!

Passionless.

Moira has NO respect for her husband. He's like the comfy, favorite coach that you have had forever. She is investing all her efforts into her "friend" and is arrogant and nasty to her husband. She is a real piece of work.

Meanwhile Ian is trying to have an ongoing "discussion" with her about the state of her relationship, pleading with her for understanding. She brushes him off.

Then, she makes time for a special vacation with her friend and sees nothing wrong with her actions. Ian sees it as the death of their relationship, but still, no fireworks. Then you get the tit for tat trip with Linda. The return for that trip SHOULD have been the high point for passion but it's a conversation. We get this exchange:

"That doesn't fix us Moira, you've ignored me, prioritised someone else. I am not even sure if you like me anymore."

"Of course I do, I like and love you."

Blah, Blah, Blah ...

That's it??? No fury from him over her continued behavior. No terror on her part seeing the man she claims to love slipping away? Ian states "She appeared to be panicking" but there is little in the exchange that FEELS panicked, no tears, no desperate crying. Moira is one cold bitch, even when "panicking".

Hooray, they stay together. But the victory feels cold. Has her arrogance, the source of much of their problems, been tamed? Has he "grown a pair" and asserted his rights in the marriage? The story slides right past all of that like it all got magically fixed.

The only interesting twist is that it is made clear that no sex is taking place and yet all the damage is pretty much the same as a "sexual" affair. Yet, for all the damage done, there is STILL no passion. It's more like a master's chess game and Moira is FINALLY checkmated.

Nice story of a relationship saved.

The problem was well done but the solution seemed overly simple. Thanks for posting.

Oh fuck that bull shit! This right here is EXACTLY how shit goes down in real life from my experience. You get a "good" woman and they won't do any of the obvious shit you read in the rest of these stories but rather have a "friend". And they spend 90% of their free time with this beta orbiter that's too gutless to take the chance to get her to cheat and keep hoping and dreaming that one day she will be the one that throws herself into his arms. She's with you when you need to deal with the shitty parts of life like paying bills, house work, and other such obligations. Then when there's free time she runs off to him so he can give her all this attention. You say you want to spend more time together and she'll say some shit about how she's with you when she's paying bills, doing house work, and going to see family. It causes friction and fights and she runs off to him so he can tell her she's right and nod as she says how juvenile you are. Then shit becomes worse. She'll literally spend the bare minimum time with you and not see how how fucked up she's behaving but convince everyone that you're insecure and controlling. And she might try to throw it in your face how men and women can be friends too.

It's the hardest fucking shit to combat and just as you get to the point where you think you're making progress by getting her to agree to go on a date she trashes it and says you two can always go another time.

I want to like this but there's no goddamn way if Vince is still in the picture. Realistically there's no certainty they weren't screwing. I mean cmon, he took her to Rome. But I sense the author didn't intend them to be screwing. Still that mother fucker will never stop. Even if he got married he will still be waiting in the shadows to swoop in when she's weakest.

I liked it! There was no BTB, no revenge, no purposeful hurt. Just one person who lost her way and needed to get her ass kicked to see it.

Well done.

Now that was a satisfying story. Marriage saved as it should be. You are back in my good graces again. :)

Well done. As you said it’s hard to come up with an original storyline in this category without being flayed alive by the critics. You did a pretty good job of it.

Good story with a terrible ending. Completely believable... NOT! 3* (it was 4* until I got to the end)

The title of this one should be "Seven and a Half Years at Sea".

That was a great story and believable story. It kept me wondering if there was an affair between Moira and Vince. Turned out Vince was a good guy and Moira was stringing two men along. Great job.

How stupid and naive is the wife to believe that the husband would be with her friend; and that sex wasn't involved. Bull, they were probably never caught; and the husband should have filled for divorce. 3 months reconciliation at a time guaranteed nothing. A quick display of a hand gun would have persuaded Vince to leave.

Fuck all that noise as soon as she went to Rome should of divorced her ass.

Good story 👍👍

I suppose its plausible.

The husband is a fucking huge wimp. No wonder she wants to be with someone else, he never should have let her go on the trip, promising divorce papers upon their return and an ass kicking for her friend. He even whined to the boyfriend. I would have no problem cutting my wife off at the neck if she ever pulled the shit detailed in this story. SD is a good writer, even though this isn't a favorite.

Certainly a slightly different theme.

I would have given 4 stars for the story, but giving 5 because of the different angle of the relationship not being sexual.

A different story and a different take to your normal stories. You can be a bit flaky at times, but l praise the stories l like ( most of them) and criticise those l don’t.

This story l liked, because it was different.

Scores 5/5

It was a good story, but I felt you went a little bit too far with Moira. She was really unlikeable by the end of the story and you didn't really do much (anything really) to redeem her. That makes it hard to tolerate the end of the story. Still, it was well written and interesting, but maybe you need to consider that in these kind of stories, the redemption arc is the most important one to write.

Going through all that to prove an obvious fault shows the marriage, the only way Moira doesn't see what she's doing is if she's a narcissist or complete idiot

Going to Rome with another man is way beyond friendship. It's extraordinarily inappropriate and disrespectful. She's not a good wife at all

That was quite a tale, well written. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Should have left her the day she went to Rome. There would have been no coming back from that.

10 Big Blazing Stars for Satin. My only concern is that tho wife said there was "NO Sex"

where was Hubby's proof that there was "NO Sex"? How could a man and woman go to another country and no sleep in the same room and same bed? Where is all this trust coming from even tho hubby is constantly ignored? Why didn't hubby at least set up a camera of some kind in his Master bedroom? Not only would Divorce papers be waiting for wife but a bullet for lovers head would be waiting for their return. NEVER would ANY normal person make up with this cheating skank, she'd be out on her cheating ass! LOL To me all these people were acting unbelievably. Writing was exceptional as usual for SD. Thanks for the effort! Buster2U

Seemed to me that he should have left her flat after the Rome trip. She should have come back to an empty house. Or maybe a house with the locks changed and her stuff in the garage. D

I’m sorry but this story did not sit well with me. After years of neglect and deflection I could not see myself saying OK - no harm , no foul. The trip to Rome was just icing on the cake.

That was a great little story with a good ending.

No, When she went to Rome, he should have hauled ass, or packed her shit. 2 stars

Interesting story well told

I liked the story but I believe the ending fell short, but not in content or results. The shorter story style went to a "bullet point" ending which didn't seem to fit the earlier writing. I would have preferred some other embellishments and story point coverage (Paragraph starts with "Initially she managed it," which led to reader to believe it changed back then to note, like the protagonist, it didn't revert to old ways... I think leaving opening to that paragraph off still works and makes it tidier. It felt like an empty ending this way).

Liked it. When I see one of your stories I read it first.

anon.1

I think I would have filed for divorce after the Rome trip. One small typo - platonic not plutonic. Credible story though.

I didn’t have to think very long to form an opinion about this plot line. My first impression was who are these men a lot of story lines portray on this sire. There is no “normal” husband who is going to allow his marriage to dissolve by allowing his wife to take a trip overseas with another man. Lastly the most overused term in these type of stories is; “YOU DON’T OWN ME’. No the husband does not have total possession of his wife, but he does have the right to issue limits if her actions go to far outside the boundaries of acceptable behavior for a married woman in a normal relationship with her husband.

Who would put up with this?

I liked this a lot. Foolish wife. I do understand how a husband struggles to put up with this behavior and is reluctant to start the divorce, but the trip was too much. That was an interesting change from the norm here.

Love the concept. While I love happy endings it's a struggle to believe Moira changed so completely in such a short time.

Sure, she had a shock to her system and realized her marriage was in danger but, she had been ignoring Ian for so long it's difficult to believe she had no relapses to her previous selfish behavior.

Not saying they couldn't have worked it out but, some potholes along the way seems more likely.

Love the continued effort by this author to explore less common themes with the LW genre

Not believable at all. The husband can't be that stupid for that long, and then they go away together-- really? Very weak ending as well, seemed rushed.....

As a man, I’d be long gone. And I’d dna test my daughter and hire a PI. Very unbelievable.

As a man, I could never have a friend that close and never think about sex with them. Yes, I have female friends, a few, that I consider close but never would I go out with them alone or vacation with them without my wife.

Should have dumped her long ago.

The husband comes out real WIMPY. She had her cake and eat it too. She went to Rome with her best friend , say sorry but aborts husbands trip. No. He must have emphasised to go to the trip without wife only to show how it feels!

He is a Wimp who will get cheated on over and over except no she won't be so careless

I like it. Nothing like a good "wake-up call".

Nit picking here:

"plutonic": relating to or denoting igneous rock

"platonic": a close relationship between two persons in which sexual desire is nonexistent

Good story.

He put up with her affair with Vince for far too long. All their friends even saw what was going on and that he was a wimp.

I liked the story. It evoked my ire. I felt for the MC. I saw him as a guy trying to keep his marriage intact. He was frustrated because he could see where it was going but powerless to stop it without the nuclear option. Notice, he never said the word divorce. He did not even say "I might not be here when you return."

The one thing he did (but long after he threatened it) was take another woman on a trip to Paris. He should have left the day after the wife returned and gushed about how much fun she had. I can only imagine him saying "great, I hope I have as good a time in Paris with Susie" Then let her stew in it.

But this is Satindesire's story and he told it the way he wanted.

Nice interesting take on issues within a marriage. 4*

Good job, you found a unique story line. It read like a standard 20+ year marriage where partners are fixtures and not components.

Just too incredible to be a satisfying story. Why on earth did he put up with her? Even at the end he could have been better off with someone else

I can't believe this guy Ian would stay with that cheating bitch. In my opinion he should have changed the locks on all the doors when she was in Rome with her buddy Vince. Then be gone foe a few days when she came back from her trip. Plus, he would have been justified to put Vince in the hospital for a few months.. As for the wife? Kick her ass to the curb. Throw all her crap out on the lawn and tell her to go be independent somewhere else. Three stars only because Ian had no idea how to be a man.

You leave a big plot hole. Is Vince GAY?! Why would he be happy with them still spending time together?

Nope. Vince is gone or I’m gone.

In reality, Vince and I would have a come to Jesus meeting far sooner than here. And the wife would have had to make her choice far sooner. Rome? Nope I’d be gone. That is completely unacceptable.

Loved the angle but preferred he dumped her......it's just that logical and realistic to me. But once again great and refreshing angle

Nice story.

She was almost cartoon-ish in her denial and inability to see reason. I couldn't suspend my disbelief far enough to like this.

Don't kid yourself, she was having sex with him. Btw was the relationship on Pluto? It platonic, not plutonic.

Nice enough story, had some good emotional elements. Rachel was a rock star with more balls than her dad. In real life there's no way that relationship with Vince was platonic. And even if, that trip Rome was a definite divorce. But good read as per usual, SatinD.

This relationship was neither saved not revitalized.

Just a continued emotional constipated hesitation to approach any common ground in the marriage.

She goes to France??

Okay, Vince found dead within first three days; she is located on a subway platform, frightened into an emotional coma, about one thousand miles East of Rome.

Will she get home? Who fucking cares….

Bullshit! Only the wimpy cuckIsh men in your stories would put up with such nonsense. I really doubt even Hallmark would try to float this shit to readers.

She fucked him. Every guy here knows it. Male friend disappeared when he thought hubby dumping her would make him have her full time.

Oblivious bitch, excuse me but 23 years. Nahhhhh

You are my favorite author ,but this story sorry...

What a rag of the man completely boneless .

Like your writing but the Rome trip would have ended the marriage. Too much disrespect, especially since they wanted to go to Rome together.

Damn. What a pathetic dickhead this guy was. Whining and moaning and making sarcastic comments is NOT the same as making hard and fast lines. When his disrespectful wife went to Rome, to experience all the sights and sounds etc WITHOUT her husband... that should have been the end.

Even with his slut wife getting upset about his trip to Paris with Linda, he should have TOLD her, not asked, that he would also be going to Rome with Linda to experience all the things he missed out on when his slut wife went without him! He has to stop being a doormat! Assert himself. If she isn't happy with it, then Divorce.

Yeah, I agree that the ending seemed rushed. The wife was a totally unlikable person. An affair is an affair, even if it's just on an emotional level. That fact wasn't truly delved into in the story.

That was refreshingly different.

You succeeded in coming up with something different and interesting.

A wonderful cautionary tale. As is my usual now, I have gone through the 36 comments posted to his point. I am in agreement with Wavedave45 somewhat. As mentioned I am passive aggressive so once someone is put "on notice" that is the confrontation. I also agree with harddaysknight and jasonnh that it cut short for the sake of simplification. It is an emotional affair at the least even if there is no sexual component. An affair is an affair. It is cautionary as well because a similar relationship between wives is more insidious and harder confront. When your wife invites others on your 25th anniversary vacation you know there is a rift. Also after years if not decades of isolation and third wheeling how could the husband possibly get over his resentments. Not believable. The vacations did happen to me. The financial destitution and medical issues have brought the Worse out in the For better or Worse" part of our vows. It will be 37 years this summer. I have 38 years of resentments that still haven't gone away. Again there are not enough stars to rate your stories properly. Keep them coming. Be warned readers all. Put your spouse first. Their not being there isn't the worst that can happen.

The word is ‘platonic,’ not ‘plutonic,’ unless you mean to say that it’s so far on the down-low that’s it’s a underground, or that it’s white-hot as molten magma.

You’re not the only one making this careless/silly error. I see it in numerous LW stories. Coincidence, or contagion?

love the way you tell a story. No nitpicking heah!

I didnt like it. She was totally disrespectful to her husband. He should have challenged Vince about his relationship with the wife, in particular if the was anything sexual going on.

I found the ending unbelievable.

4*

Since Ian had earlier put his cards on the table, I'm not sure his trip to Rome with Linda would have opened Moira's eyes. She'd have seen it exactly as it was, a ploy to prove his point. Having Moira served with a divorce petition at the airport upon her return from Rome most definately would have been the catalyst for an epiphany.

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Moira's promise to prove her commitment rings hollow with me; she's been proving the opposite for so long.

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Ian has some pretty soft boundaries letting her continue to see Vince. If i were him, I'd insist on tagging along.

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Thanks for sharing.

Ridiculous premise. What spouse, male or female would put up with that crap? Repeatedly asks wife to change it down and she not only refuses, but treats him like a simpleton. Oh I’m just going to go to Rome for the weekend with my old ‘friend’, you know that place you and I always talked about visiting together. The locks would have been changed and her clothes in bags. Compounded when they were going to try to reconcile their differences and she goes to the same restaurant with the boyfriend? Sillier and sillier.

Nice story line, but he should have dumped her when she went to Rome. At the very least she was having a emotional affair, I bet it went further than that.

10 Negative Flaming Stars. The writing itself is good. However the damage done was too great. Going on a dream vacation with another man? One that you thought you would do with your wife? She was narcissistic enjoying the attention of two men. Well one man she enjoyed while the other was her safety net. An emotional relationship can be as damaging as a physical relationship. This is not a good RAAC.

So the relAtionship is formed by the solidification of magma deep within the earth (plutonic). Lit authors are pathetic, thinking that spell check is sufficient editing for someone who is already proven to be illiterate.

Sorry, the main character is a push over. Staying with her through all the disrespect, which is as bad or worse than her likely infidelity, and then even accepting Vince as part of her life to continue, doesn't bode well at all for his future! (I'd bet any amount of money that she got boned in Rome!) He is pussy controlled! I give this story 3 stars!

Overall winner. I'll take it on face value that it was platonic (Not plutonic LOL).

Well written. Ending rushed. It almost seems you rush things out to get the story count up. I would love a longer story by you. I could see your characters in my minds-eye so you write quite well.

Nice happy ending at least 😎

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Moira was an absolute idiot…but hubby was almost as bad. He should have braced Vince long ago. Thank goodness for Rachel!

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Moira going to Rome with Vince SHOULD have triggered Ian to do 2 things: separate from Moira and beat the shit out of Vince. It was excruciating to watch Ian just stand aside after that stunt by the bitch…who later admitted she and Vince did the trip to reinforce her “independence”.

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4 ****

Had a GF try something like this on me once. She let me know that after we were married that she intended to keep hooking up every week with her GF's for "happy hour." I told her that it was no problem: while she was with her GF's, I would do the same with my friends, at which point she became REALLY angry (I was ROFLMAO inside) and said she KNEW what men did on such outings. I said, "perhaps, but who do you think we would be doing IT with, IF it did happen? Of course, you know the answer: women at "happy hour: with their GF's!!"

Skewered on her own petard, that ended the relationship! ) I never looked back knowing I had dodged a bullet.

I enjoyed it, but this is an odd little story.

The MC’s lack of concrete action to put his foot down prior to the trip seemed like lunacy. The fact that the MC simply accepted the wife’s claim that the relationship was platonic seemed like lunacy too.

Seems like some sort of confirmation of this (PI turning up blanks, BFFs admission it was platonic, or some other form of confirmation) would have helped the MC not look like he was crazy.

In the end, the MC moves out, but does nothing to solve his own problem. It was his daughter losing her shit and putting her foot down that finally moves the tension to a resolution. What ultimately galvanizes Moira into action isn’t fear of losing her husband, but the potential disapproval of her daughter.

The MC and Moira are in a female-led relationship and their daughter Rachel is in charge.

Problem is as old as mankind: men with no balls letting women pull crap!

Funny read: Genesis 3:17 where God Himself rebukes Adam for going along with Eve's crap!! )

So, EVEN God's not OK with men letting women pull crap! )))

The wife, for being supposedly an intelligent woman, has a few nuts & bolts missing from her brains. She ignores her husband, has a close friendship with another man, then blames the husband for thinking he can control her. It showed at her BD party.

Then she takes that Rome trip that was to be taken with hubby, & she sees nothing wrong with it. After she calls to let him know that she arrived safely, my response would've been "Thank you, that's nice" & hang up. She'd call again asking about that, "I've tried to take trips, including Rome, with you, but you're always a reason why not. He asks you & you've got time. Talking about total disrespect. Don't call back!" then hang up again. When she returned, I wouldn't be home, but would leave a note: "Now you can have your close friendship with Ian & move beyond that. You've shown what & who's important to you." I can't see any self-respecting man allowing his wife to take that Rome trip. Nor any self-respecting wife agreeing to it.

I'm liking that they worked things out, but there should've been a separation so she could see what life would be like without him. As said, that would've started (with me, at least) before her return, getting a small month to month rental. And thinking about it, after all that time of being ignored, used as an extra, then that trip, I'd be at least talking to a divorce lawyer, if not filing. Yeah, I know if sounds contradictory.

A good, interesting story, as almost all this author's stories are. 4 stars Bob

it would have been him or me way before Rome. At the birthday party I would have interrupted her way before the ending confrontation. Once the Rome trip was mentioned, especially since it was to be "our" trip, it would have been the final straw. Even if she declined the trip it would have been the intent that meant the end and I would have divorced her.

Even now with her attempt to get better he needs more time with the divorced lady friend to even the score. Take up half with her, bike trips, etc. If the wife plans a trip for them do it first with someone else.

Another irrealistic fantasy, not much far from the usual cheating-cuck-raac theme, without an husband with a male brain.

Moria's conversion seemed most inconsistent, and her repentance wasn't shown. I wouldn't expect it to be true, and her basic attitude to remain unchanged.

Sorry, but the wife's behavior is simply not acceptable nor her claims of fidelity believable. To spend so much time with a member of the opposite sex, who is not a relative, is a *relationship* that robs her marriage of the time and devotion she should be giving her husband. I did not like this story since its basic premise requires too large a stretch of credulity. The wife's character is extremely unsympathetic, and the husband comes across as a weak idiot! He should have showed her the Divorce documents that would be filed as soon as mention of her trip to Italy was raised. The writing is good, but unrealistic narrative -- is there any man out there who is really as stupid as this MC???

I don't care if she did finally come to her senses, or if he was an idiot and they were married forever

Her going on a dream vacation with someone- anyone- else that your husband's been trying to get you to go on without even asking him if it was OK, was so far over over the top you can't even see the "top".

There are worse things than being single. Married to this bitch would be one of them.

This is an award winning full of shit story of a wimp who had no balls to divorce the wife once she flew to Rome.A self respected man would have walked away from her.